032874 Prostitute's clients face arrest, too

PORTLAND, Ore. - Until recently, men caught negotiating with prostitutes here were sent away with little more than a warning.

Their license numbers were recorded and they were told how easy it was to get rolled and how embarrassed they'd be if their wives found out.

Then the police went after the prostitutes.

TODAY A MAN seeking a prostitute in Portland faces far greater risk. Under a new state law, he can be jailed up to a year and fined up to $1,000 if, as the law states he pays or offers or agrees to pay a fee to engage in sexual conduct.

The state legislators who introduced the law say it will bring justice to both parties instead of just one - involved in the crime. The penalties are the same faced by the prostitutes.

"It's going to be ahelluva deterrent," Michael Wiebe, a Portland vice officer, said. "And if the demand dwindles, so will the supply. I think we're going to see a noticeable decline in street prostitution. "

CRITICS COMPLAINED the law could be used to entrap innocent parties and asserted that the men arrested might suffer more from damaged reputations than would prostitutes.

Six days after its enactment came a case that seemed to be just what critics had warned against.

Rod Luck, a. 27-year-old Portland television sportscaster, was charged by Portland police for having offered an 18year-old prostitute money to perform a sexual act.

LUCK DENIED the charge and ultimately won a dismissal. But in the interim, during widespread publicity about the case, he lost his $23,000 job. He is now working nights as a checker in a grocery, earning $2 an hour and trying to support his wife and 11-month-old child.

Luck first was convicted in District Court in Multnomah County. He appealed to the County Circuit Court and Judge Richard T. Burke, who heard the case without a jury, acquitted Luck on the grounds the prosecution had failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt Luck had made a "good faith" offer to the woman.

Since Luck's arrest, Portland police have charged six other men under the new law Thus far, two have plead guilty and paid fines. State-wide statistics have not Not been complied.

Prostitution in Portland seems to have declined but officers say they are reluctant to attribute this entirely to the new law. 'They are waiting for warmer weather,, particularly when bigger conventions come to town, to assess the full effect